Akhmatova, Anna

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TITLE="Wilde, Oscar"><U>Wilde, Oscar</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id244.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Williams, William Carlos"><U>Williams, William Carlos</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id93.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Wordsworth, William"><U>Wordsworth, William</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id92.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Yeats, William Butler"><U>Yeats, William Butler</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id241.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Yushij, Nima"><U>Yushij, Nima</U></A></div> <bR> <div> Akhmatova, Anna</div> <bR> <div> <B>Departure</b><B> </b></div> <bR> <div> <B>Although this land is not my own, </b></div> <div> <B>I will remember its inland sea </b></div> <div> <B>and the waters that are so cold </b></div> <bR> <div> <B>the sand as white </b></div> <div> <B>as old bones, the pine trees </b></div> <div> <B>strangely red where the sun comes down. </b></div> <bR> <div> <B>I cannot say if it is our love, </b></div> <div> <B>or the day, that is ending. </b></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>*********************************************</b></div> <bR> <div> <B>I Taught Myself to Live Simply</b></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>I taught myself to live simply and wisely,</b></div> <div> <B>to look at the sky and pray to God,</b></div> <div> <B>and to wander long before evening</b></div> <div> <B>to tire my superfluous worries.</b></div> <div> <B>When the burdocks rustle in the ravine</b></div> <div> <B>and the yellow-red rowanberry cluster droops</b></div> <div> <B>I compose happy verses</b></div> <div> <B>about life's decay, decay and beauty.</b></div> <div> <B>I come back. The fluffy cat</b></div> <div> <B>licks my palm, purrs so sweetly</b></div> <div> <B>and the fire flares bright</b></div> <div> <B>on the saw-mill turret by the lake.</b></div> <div> <B>Only the cry of a stork landing on the roof</b></div> <div> <B>occasionally breaks the silence.</b></div> <div> <B>If you knock on my door</b></div> <div> <B>I may not even hear. </b></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>*************************************</b></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Twenty-First. Night. Monday</b></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Twenty-first. Night. Monday.</b></div> <div> <B>Silhouette of the capitol in darkness.</b></div> <div> <B>Some good-for-nothing -- who knows why--</b></div> <div> <B>made up the tale that love exists on earth.</b></div> <bR> <div> <B>People believe it, maybe from laziness</b></div> <div> <B>or boredom, and live accordingly:</b></div> <div> <B>they wait eagerly for meetings, fear parting,</b></div> <div> <B>and when they sing, they sing about love.</b></div> <bR> <div> <B>But the secret reveals itself to some,</b></div> <div> <B>and on them silence settles down...</b></div> <div> <B>I found this out by accident</b></div> <div> <B>and now it seems I'm sick all the time. </b></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>*************************************</b></div> <bR> <div> <B>Solitude</b></div> <bR> <div> <B>So many stones have been thrown at me,</b></div> <div> <B>That I'm not frightened of them anymore,</b></div> <div> <B>And the pit has become a solid tower,</b></div> <div> <B>Tall among tall towers.</b></div> <div> <B>I thank the builders,</b></div> <div> <B>May care and sadness pass them by.</b></div> <div> <B>From here I'll see the sunrise earlier,</b></div> <div> <B>Here the sun's last ray rejoices.</b></div> <div> <B>And into the windows of my room</b></div> <div> <B>The northern breezes often fly.</b></div> <div> <B>And from my hand a dove eats grains of wheat...</b></div> <div> <B>As for my unfinished page,</b></div> <div> <B>The Muse's tawny hand, divinely calm</b></div> <div> <B>And delicate, will finish it.</b></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>*******************************************</b></div> <bR> <div> <B>Sunbeam</b></div> <bR> <div> <B>I pray to the sunbeam from the window -</b></div> <div> <B>It is pale, thin, straight.</b></div> <div> <B>Since morning I have been silent,</b></div> <div> <B>And my heart - is split.</b></div> <div> <B>The copper on my washstand</b></div> <div> <B>Has turned green,</b></div> <div> <B>But the sunbeam plays on it</b></div> <div> <B>So charmingly.</b></div> <div> <B>How innocent it is, and simple,</b></div> <div> <B>In the evening calm,</b></div> <div> <B>But to me in this deserted temple</b></div> <div> <B>It's like a golden celebration,</b></div> <div> <B>And a consolation. </b></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>******************************************</b></div> <bR> <div> <B>Under Her Dark Veil</b></div> <bR> <div> <B>Under her dark veil she wrung her hands.</b></div> <div> <B>"Why are you so pale today?"</b></div> <div> <B>"Because I made him drink of stinging grief</b></div> <div> <B>Until he got drunk on it.</b></div> <div> <B>How can I forget? He staggered out,</b></div> <div> <B>His mouth twisted in agony.</b></div> <div> <B>I ran down not touching the bannister</b></div> <bR> <div> <B>And caught up with him at the gate.</b></div> <div> <B>I cried: 'A joke!</b></div> <div> <B>That's all it was. If you leave, I'll die.'</b></div> <div> <B>He smiled calmly and grimly</b></div> <div> <B>And told me: 'Don't stand here in the wind.' "</b></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>************************************************</b></div> <bR> <div> <B>How can you bear to look at the Neva?</b></div> <bR> <div> <B>How can you bear to look at the Neva?</b></div> <div> <B>How can you bear to cross the bridges?.</b></div> <div> <B>Not in vain am I known as the grieving one</b></div> <div> <B>Since the time you appeared to me.</b></div> <div> <B>The black angels' wings are sharp,</b></div> <div> <B>Judgment Day is coming soon,</b></div> <div> <B>And raspberry-colored bonfires bloom,</b></div> <div> <B>Like roses, in the snow.</b></div> <bR> <div> <B>Anna Akhmatova</b></div> <bR> <div> <B>*************************************************</b></div> <bR> <div> <B>I hear the oriole's always-grieving voice</b></div> <bR> <div> <B>I hear the oriole's always-grieving voice,</b></div> <div> <B>And the rich summer's welcome loss I hear</b></div> <div> <B>In the sickle's serpentine hiss</b></div> <div> <B>Cutting the corn's ear tightly pressed to ear.</b></div> <div> <B>And the short skirts of the slim reapers</b></div> <div> <B>Fly in the wind like holiday pennants,</b></div> <div> <B>The clash of joyful cymbals, and creeping</b></div> <div> <B>From under dusty lashes, the long glance.</b></div> <bR> <div> <B>I don't expect love's tender flatteries,</b></div> <div> <B>In premonition of some dark event,</b></div> <div> <B>But come, come and see this paradise</b></div> <div> <B>Where together we were blessed and innocent.</b></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>************************************************</b></div> <bR> <div> <B>I don't know if you're alive or dead...</b></div> <bR> <div> <B>I don't know if you're alive or dead.</b></div> <div> <B>Can you on earth be sought,</b></div> <div> <B>Or only when the sunsets fade</b></div> <div> <B>Be mourned serenely in my thought?</b></div> <div> <B>All is for you: the daily prayer,</b></div> <div> <B>The sleepless heat at night,</b></div> <div> <B>And of my verses, the white</b></div> <div> <B>Flock, and of my eyes, the blue fire.</b></div> <bR> <div> <B>No-one was more cherished, no-one tortured</b></div> <div> <B>Me more, not</b></div> <div> <B>Even the one who betrayed me to torture,</b></div> <div> <B>Not even the one who caressed me and forgot.</b></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>***********************************************</b></div> <bR> <div> <B>Willow</b></div> <bR> <div> <B>And I grew up in patterned tranquillity,</b></div> <div> <B>In the cool nursery of the young century.</b></div> <div> <B>And the voice of man was not dear to me,</b></div> <div> <B>But the voice of the wind I could understand.</b></div> <div> <B>But best of all the silver willow.</b></div> <div> <B>And obligingly, it lived</b></div> <div> <B>With me all my life; it's weeping branches</b></div> <div> <B>Fanned my insomnia with dreams.</b></div> <div> <B>And strange!--I outlived it.</b></div> <div> <B>There the stump stands; with strange voices</b></div> <div> <B>Other willows are conversing</b></div> <div> <B>Under our, under those skies.</b></div> <div> <B>And I am silent...As if a brother had died.</b></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>***********************************************</b></div> <bR> <div> <B>You will hear thunder...</b></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>You will hear thunder and remember me,</b></div> <div> <B>And think: she wanted storms. The rim</b></div> <div> <B>Of the sky will be the colour of hard crimson,</b></div> <div> <B>And your heart, as it was then, will be on fire.</b></div> <div> <B>That day in Moscow, it will all come true,</b></div> <div> <B>when, for the last time, I take my leave,</b></div> <div> <B>And hasten to the heights that I have longed for,</b></div> <div> <B>Leaving my shadow still to be with you. </b></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>*****************************************************</b></div> <bR> <div> <B>Lying in me</b></div> <bR> <div> <B>Lying in me, as though it were a white </b></div> <div> <B>Stone in the depths of a well, is one </b></div> <div> <B>Memory that I cannot, will not, fight: </b></div> <div> <B>It is happiness, and it is pain. </b></div> <div> <B>Anyone looking straight into my eyes </b></div> <div> <B>Could not help seeing it, and could not fail </b></div> <div> <B>To become thoughtful, more sad and quiet </b></div> <div> <B>Than if he were listening to some tragic tale. </b></div> <bR> <div> <B>I know the gods changed people into things, </b></div> <div> <B>Leaving their consciousness alive and free. </b></div> <div> <B>To keep alive the wonder of suffering, </b></div> <div> <B>You have been metamorphosed into me. </b></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>******************************************************</b></div> <bR> <div> <B>White Night </b></div> <bR> <div> <B>I haven't locked the door, </b></div> <div> <B>Nor lit the candles, </b></div> <div> <B>You don't know, don't care, </b></div> <div> <B>That tired I haven't the strength </b></div> <div> <B>To decide to go to bed. </b></div> <div> <B>Seeing the fields fade in </b></div> <div> <B>The sunset murk of pine-needles, </b></div> <div> <B>And to know all is lost, </b></div> <bR> <div> <B>That life is a cursed hell: </b></div> <div> <B>I've got drunk </b></div> <div> <B>On your voice in the doorway. </b></div> <div> <B>I was sure you'd come back.</b></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>*******************************************************</b></div> <bR> <div> <B>Crucifix </b></div> <bR> <div> <B>Do not cry for me, Mother, seeing me in the grave.</b></div> <bR> <div> <B>I</b></div> <bR> <div> <B>This greatest hour was hallowed and thandered</b></div> <div> <B>By angel's choirs; fire melted sky.</b></div> <div> <B>He asked his Father:"Why am I abandoned...?"</b></div> <div> <B>And told his Mother: "Mother, do not cry..."</b></div> <bR> <div> <B>II</b></div> <bR> <div> <B>Magdalena struggled, cried and moaned.</b></div> <div> <B>Peter sank into the stone trance...</b></div> <div> <B>Only there, where Mother stood alone,</b></div> <div> <B>None has dared cast a single glance.</b></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>